Stained glass for the small display case has been cut, ground and foiled with silver-backed copper foil.
Working with a piece of padauk from the Congo for the first time. Very easy to sand and do router work but chips quite readily with small hand tools. Will fix the chips on this display case base before adding the stained glass sections.
Lots of new parts and mesh applied to foam tank.
Extracting components for the display from an old circuit board.
About 52 pieces so far in this tank cluster. Still require conductive mesh, walkways, fencing, pipes, lighting, valves, dc motors, and other bits. More than one hundred more pieces to add before this physics research system for detecting neutrinos from supernovas and dark matter can be mounted on the display base. Holiday project in and around family and various outings.
Faraday cages being built for all five tanks. Need to electrically connect the copper foils to metal meshes.
rrinkerWell, there's one answer - make them look like metal by wrapping them with - metal.
Well...hmmm...er...hmmm...That was a bit...unexpected...which I believe is pretty par for this thread.It does have the unfortunate apperance that OSS will later hook it up to his crystal wireless set and pick up the Jack Benny program.
Well, there's one answer - make them look like metal by wrapping them with - metal.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Tetrachloroethylene tank has been shielded from electromagnetic radiation using copper foil. Two hand rails added so grad students and postdocs don't fall off, and paint applied.
rrinkerMaking wood look like metal is something I'm not worried about - it's actually pretty easy, if a bit time consuming, to do. You just need enough sanding sealer and time, and some very fine grades of sandpaper. Enough coats with increasingly finer sandpaper used in between and you'll end up with something with absolutely no visible grain that is as smooth as any piece of plastic.
Making wood look like metal is something I'm not worried about - it's actually pretty easy, if a bit time consuming, to do. You just need enough sanding sealer and time, and some very fine grades of sandpaper. Enough coats with increasingly finer sandpaper used in between and you'll end up with something with absolutely no visible grain that is as smooth as any piece of plastic. I've done that as far back as my model rocket days, I had some you'd swear were the 'cheater' plastic fin type and not the balsa fins that you had to lay out and cut yourself. It's come in handy for a project of mine to make early covered hoppers the same way my prototype did - take old open hoppers and bolt on a roof. Micro Mark has wood eoof stock that precisely fits in the Accurail hoppers I used as a base and has the exact overhang it needs. Only problem is, the roofs are supposed to be sheet metal and the roof stock is long strips of wood. Out comes the sanding sealer and after about 5 coats plus a final coat of primer, it looks like a metal (or at least plastic) part, and even tapping it with your fingernail, it feels more plastic than wood.
SeeYou190 I am still reading all the updates on this magnificent project. And... I am enjoying all of them. . Keep 'em coming. . -Kevin .
I am still reading all the updates on this magnificent project. And... I am enjoying all of them.
.
Keep 'em coming.
-Kevin
Thank you - very kind.
Building this display is allowing me to combine all of my material interests in wood, stone, organics, metal, glass, and polymers. My skills are improving in areas like woodworking, stonework, metalwork, glasswork, painting, bonding techniques, artistic design, and especially patience with my MR forum detractors, several of whom I simply ignore.
I find my huge hardcopy library of model railroad magazine articles inspiring and I sometimes go beyond the scratchbuilding techniques of those of similar mind a half century ago - for example, glasswork and cutting my own timbers.
As for established practices and 'rules', I'm a freelancer so these artificial guidelines don't matter to me, after all, real trains are not plastic and made in China, real rails do not carry electricity, real buildings are not made of plastic, and the list goes on. But, I respect everyone's take on this hobby and I don't try to impose my values and way of doing business on anyone else. I am 63 years old, have severe arthritis in my hands, but still am having the time of my life with trains.
So, on that note, Merry Christmas to all and may your stockings be filled with the locomotives and rolling stock of your dreams! I suspect my wife bought me something from Walthers In that package that came by way of UPS recently.
OldSchoolScratchbuilder richhotrain That staircase is way out of scale for HO. If those storage tanks are somewhere between 3 and 5 inches tall, you would need somewhere between 26 and 44 treads assuming 10 inch risers - - - the acceptable industrial tolerance. I couldn't care less.
richhotrain That staircase is way out of scale for HO. If those storage tanks are somewhere between 3 and 5 inches tall, you would need somewhere between 26 and 44 treads assuming 10 inch risers - - - the acceptable industrial tolerance.
That staircase is way out of scale for HO. If those storage tanks are somewhere between 3 and 5 inches tall, you would need somewhere between 26 and 44 treads assuming 10 inch risers - - - the acceptable industrial tolerance.
I couldn't care less.
Living the dream.
Solid wire connects the zinc stairs and structural nylon bonded to the base of the storage tank. Lots more parts to install on this tank.
rrinker Well since tuyas are somewhat common in BC, maybe that's what it is. Except it's unlikely there'd be a hoodoo on one. Somehow I missed that post from Rich - did he delete it or edit that line out? --Randy
Well since tuyas are somewhat common in BC, maybe that's what it is. Except it's unlikely there'd be a hoodoo on one.
Somehow I missed that post from Rich - did he delete it or edit that line out?
Rich
Alton Junction
rrinkerWell since tuyas are somewhat common in BC, maybe that's what it is. Except it's unlikely there'd be a hoodoo on one. Somehow I missed that post from Rich - did he delete it or edit that line out?
Page 8, second up from the bottom.
richhotrainHow can you resist such a rare geological feature as a tuya once you place the hoodoo on the butte?
You're killin' me here!
Helical metal staircases are easy to make using a hot knife and zinc. Railings will also be added with metal.
Clay pavement cured and painted. Alberta ground cover coming along to my satisfaction. Tipple base structure fixed in place, more parts to be made to turn it into a National Historic Site.
The fire-fighting foam tank will be positioned between the two chemical tanks and will feed foam into the outer chambers of these two tanks as required. Tank fill valves will be on top and will connect to tanker cars. Fluid feeds to the deep mine shaft will run along the surface to the base of the butte.
First of several coats of paint applied. Storage tanks will contain water (blue), liquid nitrogen (white), fire-fighting foam (red), tetrachloroethylene (green), and alkyl benzene (brown). When finished, the tanks will appear metallic, not wooden.
Working on storage tanks using driftwood logs this evening.
Utility terminals and liquid storage facilities for the University of Calgary-Canadian Government (UCCG) Deep Neutrino Laboratory is located trackside at the base of the butte. Besides an electric power substation and satellite communications antenna, cryogenic and other detection-specific fluids can readily be off-loaded from tank cars. Cheverie clay has been used to make a paved area for equipment.
RAM arms have been reinforced with steel (model railroad magazine staples) and the entire sub-assembly painted.
So to recap the tipple base materials so far, West Jeddore driftwood, Cape Blomidon sandstone, Musquodoboit Valley autoglass, Walton shale and Cheverie clay.
Old Walton shale roof is roughly patched with Cheverie clay.